Veg congress day one: The fact vegetarians are healthier than meat-eaters is ‘one of the most consistent findings of nutritional epidemiology’

Dr David Jacobs: “It seems that the presence of more phytochemical-rich plant foods rather than the complete absence of animal foods is what makes a vegetarian diet so successful.”

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People on a plant-based diet are consistently slimmer and healthier than meat eaters, with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, according to research unveiled at the 6th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition (ICVN).

The headline-grabbing news from the three-day conference at Loma Linda University in California, was the results of a clinical trial - published today in the New England Journal of Medicine - which found that primarily plant-based diets supplemented with nuts and virgin olive oil can reduce risk of cardiovascular events by 30%. Click here
for details.

However, vegetarians - who typically have lower blood pressure and lower LDL cholesterol - also have a lower BMI, lower fasting blood glucose (resulting in a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes) and a lower risk of developing certain cancers (notably stomach cancer), said successive speakers at the event, which attracted more than 750 delegates from all over the world.

Why are the health outcomes of vegetarians better?

NHANES data also showing that on average, vegetarians consumed 364 fewer calories per day than non-vegetarians

Precisely why remains the subject of intense debate, with some speakers suggesting that vegetarians’ lower calorie intake - and lower BMI - is the critical factor from which the other health benefits all stem; but others claiming that higher levels of fiber and health-promoting phytochemicals, coupled with lower levels of saturated fat may be responsible.

Other argued that vegetarians might simply be better educated, more health-conscious, more disciplined or less likely to smoke and drink.

But regardless of the reason, the epidemiological evidence that people on plant-based diets have a reduced risk of chronic disease is pretty compelling, said Gary Fraser, PhD, who presented findings from an analysis of data from the Adventist Health Study-2*, a cohort
of 96,000 adults in the US and Canada that have been monitored since 2002.

Results to date show that vegetarians, especially vegans, have much lower BMI than non-vegetarians, he said. "Blood pressures and serum cholesterol is lower in vegetarians, as is the prevalence of hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Prevalence and incidence of diabetes is lower, as are levels of fasting glucose."

"Risk factors for cancer, including blood insulin, and CRP are lower in vegetarians, but IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 are low in vegans and non-vegetarians but higher in lacto-ovo vegetarians. Measures of immune function such as IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-alpha did not vary significantly by dietary pattern."

The challenge when trying to describe vegetarianism as a dietary pattern, is that there are so many different variations on the vegetarian diet

Preliminary total cancer incidence data also indicates lower risk among vegans when compared to non-vegetarians in the cohort, he added. "Regarding total mortality the main observation is that all vegetarian categories combined have significantly lower mortality than non-vegetarians. Cardiovascular, endocrine (mainly diabetes), and renal deaths were significantly lower among vegetarians.

“There’s not a clear consensus as to why vegetarians have better health outcomes, but clearly the lower BMI must play a key role”, he told FoodNavigator-USA.

“The challenge when trying to describe vegetarianism as a dietary pattern, is that there are so many different variations on the vegetarian diet, from vegans (who eat no animal products), lacto vegetarians (who eat eggs and dairy), to pesco vegetarians (who eat fish, but not meat), before you even get to the difference between a vegetarian in the UK or the US versus a vegetarian in India or Africa.”

And then within all of these subgroups, he says, “you have the vegetarians who get their protein from grains and legumes and eat a lot of vegetables, nuts and fruits; and you have the ‘pudding and cake’ vegetarians” (who are more likely to get their protein from a Margarita pizza and Mac & cheese instead of quinoa and lentils, he says.

“However, you do generally see that vegetarians eat more fiber, less saturated fat and fewer calories.”

"The problem is, the absence of one food -eg. meat - cannot adequately define a dietary pattern, which makes it hard to compare vegetarian research results, so it would be helpful to to define and publish a recommended vegetarian diet."

Contrary to popular belief, vegetarians consume about the same levels of many key nutrients of concern as meat-eaters

As for concerns about nutrient deficiencies in the vegetarian diet, analysis of US NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) dietary intake data reveals that with the exception of zinc and vitamin B12; vegetarians’ intakes of ‘nutrients of concern’ including calcium, vitamin D, C, A, E , magnesium and iron, are typically no lower than those of their meat-eating counterparts, delegates were told.

With NHANES data also showing that on average, vegetarians consumed 364 fewer calories per day than non-vegetarians, it is also easy to see why they typically have a lower BMI, said Bonnie farmer, MS, RD, professor of family and consumer sciences at Western Michigan University and a regulatory scientist at Kellogg.

Meanwhile, a meta-analysis of intervention trials of meat-eaters that switch to a vegetarian diet also demonstrated that this is an equally effective - and more sustainable - approach to weight loss than diets focused on calorie restriction, claimed Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

“It’s actually easier to follow a vegetarian diet than diets where you have to count calories and restrict yourself all the time.”

Vegetarian diets have more favorable chronic disease outcomes. This is one of the most consistent findings of nutritional epidemiology

In a presentation urging nutrition researchers and educators to focus on food and overall dietary patterns rather than the health benefits of isolated nutrients, David Jacobs, PhD, Mayo professor in epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, said: “In general, plant-centered and vegetarian diets have more favorable chronic disease outcomes.

“This is one of the most consistent findings of nutritional epidemiology.”

Meat is not the enemy

But meat is not the enemy, he said: “It seems that the presence of more phytochemical-rich plant foods rather than the complete absence of animal foods what makes a vegetarian diet so successful.”

*The Adventist Health Study-2 cohort consists of 96,000 Seventh-day Adventists from the US and Canada. Comprehensive dietary information was gathered at study baseline (2002-2007), and then subjects were followed for mortality and cancer incidence. Sub-studies gathered blood and other bio-specimens from 2,700 subjects.

Many biomarkers of dietary intake have also been analyzed in 900 representative subjects, said Fraser. "At present we have more than 5,000 fatal end-points and will have about 5,000 incident cancer endpoints in about one year after completing matching with state cancer registries."

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People on a plant-based diet are consistently slimmer and healthier than meat eaters, with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, according to research unveiled at the 6th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition (ICVN).

10 comments(Comments are now closed)

Behold, here's a healthy vegan

Hermes, if you'd rather have ancedote than science, here's my story. I went from vegetarian to vegan about 18 months ago. I could breath better within a week and my migraines stopped immediately. Within two months, my arthritis vanished. I've lost 20 pounds without hunger or calorie counting, despite being a cookbook writer and so always working with food. I feel and am often told I look younger than I am, with good skin and lots of energy:

Other whole-foods vegans I meet have the similar experiences and appearances. Try it for two months and see for yourselves. Save money, save your health, and save the planet.

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Posted by Linda Watson31 March 2013 | 16h522013-03-31T16:52:57Z

We are born omnivores

Of course a vegan diet is inadequate, without zinc and vitamin B12 we die. Without animal protein we age faster (no collagen, lots of wrinkles)and our immune system falters. i have never seen a healthy vegan. They are constantly sick and look older than their age.
As humans we must eat animal protein just like certain animals. Try feeding a tiger a salad.

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Posted by hermes06 March 2013 | 18h482013-03-06T18:48:28Z

Vegetarians Vs Meat eaters in health?

Meat eaters recover from diseases better than vegetarians in all cases in clinical investigations

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Posted by harry04 March 2013 | 21h382013-03-04T21:38:28Z

What makes a vegan diet inadequate?

This article states that the absence of meat is an inadequate diet pattern. And yet the statement is followed by facts in which describe that the nutrients of concern are the same in vegans and non vegans. So please tell me why a diet with out meat is inadequate? Because we have formed habits over thousands of years? That is not the definition of inadequate.

Small studies show, like the ones I do in my house on my family, that it is not the abundance of more phoytochemicals on top of the average American diet, but the restriction of meat and dairy. These are my findings and I find them to be true.

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Posted by Amal Z02 March 2013 | 16h342013-03-02T16:34:39Z

Study surely controlled for non-dietary lifestyle factors

Some commenters are suggesting it's not the veg diets but other SDA healthy lifestyle habits that account for the reported health benefits. But studies like this always analyze the results to factor out the noise from potentially confounding variables like smoking, drinking etc. When published, the study will almost certainly show that SDAs who follow a veg' diet are significantly healthier than those who are omnivorous, even when their smoking, drinking, exercising etc. habits are the same.

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Posted by Syd B.02 March 2013 | 04h312013-03-02T04:31:07Z

Research shows vitamin intake similar

To the hypoglycemic meat-eater, I'm glad your new diet is working for you, but how do you explain the results of the bloodwork, showing intake of essential nutrients like iron are the same in the veg population and non-population? I have a patient who is type 1 diabetic and found she could control her blood sugar much better on a vegan diet. In fact, her pregnancy was going fantastic, well into her 7th month when I last saw her. I find her results, as well as a local man who put Chrone's Disease into remission 10 years (confirmed by lab results), very inspiring.

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Posted by MJ01 March 2013 | 04h302013-03-01T04:30:30Z

Lacto-ova diet or Vegan

Having worked in a Seventh Day Adventist hospital for 28 years, the mainstay diet is a lacto-ova diet which includes eggs and dairy products and thus includes some animal protein. The SDA faith also forbids smoking, drinking alcohol,and other unhealthy behaviors so it is difficult to separate out the benefits of their diet. The Physicians Committee for Responsible medicine has about 3% physicians and is a front for animal rights activists so I agree that Neal Barnard comment's are "opinion". I remember several years ago when this group sent out a food pyramid to newspapers and when I saw it printed in the paper I was confused as it was a vegan food pyramid. Later the newspaper found they had been duped and they put out a disclaimer that this was not the government version. Having done food analysis of meals for both meat eating and SDA women, I can state that the SDA women consumed twice the intake of vitamin C and thus consumed far more fruits and vegetables. Thus the phytochemical and fiber content of the SDA diet is possibly one of the main factors in improved health.

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Posted by Mature Dietititan01 March 2013 | 01h202013-03-01T01:20:34Z

You can lead a horse yo water...

..etc.

Even if you present people with the straight-up facts: cutting meat out of your diet will mean a longer life, they still say "but...". But what? You'd rather die younger than give up your burger? Fine, that's your choice. Just know you were warned and stop spreading lies about the vegetarian diet.

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Posted by a skinny vegan28 February 2013 | 19h582013-02-28T19:58:37Z

Biased Information

Quoting Neal Barnard discredits this information. He is biased in his opinion as he is a confirmed vegetarian and a member of PETA

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Posted by Jane 27 February 2013 | 08h012013-02-27T08:01:03Z

Title is misleading

First of all, the study was done among Seventh-Day Adventists so that tells me right there it's not a good cross section of the public. You have to ask, what else are these folks doing right? I was a vegetarian for over 10 years, until I became hypoglycemic, and it was the 7th-dayer's I went to for advice on diet. I found the emphasis was on food combining and DE-emphasizing junk food. For people who eat a truly heathy diet, and eliminate processed carbs and fast food from their diet, meat, poultry and seafood provide valuable nutrients you just can't get from a vegetarian diet alone. I have found as many studies supporting that as there are opposing arguments. On a personal note, I eat plenty of meat now and my blood sugar is under control. My cholesterol, triglycerides, and homocysteine levels are better than perfect, I'm 66 and take nothing but vitamins and haven't been sick in over 30 years. Even this article states that it's a high plant food diet that's important, not the complete absence of animal food. So the title is in itself, misleading.

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